Raid on The Courts of the Unknown
The First Battle of High Council was a large battle for the control of the Covenant capital world High Charity between the Covenant Separatists, the Covenant Loyalists, limited United Nations Space Command forces, and later, the Flood. The battle marked several significant events: The start of the Covenant Civil War, SPARTAN John-117's pursuit of the Prophet of Truth and the Flood invasion of High Charity. Background The Fracturing of the Covenant The Battle of High Charity was a predestined battle. With the Brutes, who directly competed with the Elites, slowly gaining the favor of the Prophets, it was only a matter of time before the Elites were overthrown and open warfare began between the two parties. However, multiple events helped bring about the battle. Recent failures of the Elites leading up to the battle (including the loss of Installation 04, and the assassination of the Prophet of Regret by the UNSC) damaged the reputation of the Elites and further empowered and emboldened the Brutes. These events spurred the Changing of the Guard, giving the Brutes the duty of protecting the Prophets - an honor traditionally held by the Elites, further damaged their reputation and position within the Covenant. Battle of Installation 05 :Main article: Battle of Installation 05 However, while the eventuality of the Battle of High Charity was a foregone conclusion, its scale was not. The Prophet of Regret's wayward mission to Earth brought High Charity, SPARTAN-117 and In Amber Clad near Installation 05. With the Gravemind already released and plotting its way off of the Halo, this would set the tables for the invasion by both the Flood and the legendary 'Demon'. An attempt to kill SPARTAN-117 from orbit had failed and instead threw him into the clutches of the Gravemind. It would be Tartarus, however, who put the final pieces of the puzzle into place - some of them inadvertently. After the Arbiter successfully acquired the Index from the Library, Tartarus attempted to execute him by firing a burst from his Fist of Rukt at the Arbiter and knocking him into the depths of the Library. He then took the Index and UNSC Commander Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Major Avery Johnson as prisoners back to High Charity where the Prophets of Truth and Mercy waited. Gravemind The Arbiter, however, would not be slain there. The Gravemind had other plans for him along with SPARTAN-117. The Index was now in the hands of the Covenant, and as ignorant as they might be to the true purpose of the Halos, they were fully intent on firing them - an act that would prove fatal to the Gravemind should it occur. As such, he knew that the Halos must not be fired, and for that he brought two of the finest warriors and the ones most likely to stop the catastrophe. He sent SPARTAN-117 to High Charity and the Arbiter to the local installation's Control Room - the two most likely places for the Index to be. He then prepared to bring the other part of his plan into action - the invasion of High Charity. Battle Master Chief's Entrance :"Boo." :—Master Chief to a Grunt filming the speech. The Grunt flees afterward. The battle began in the Council Chamber. The Prophet of Truth (with the Prophet of Mercy at his side) was giving a speech to the Covenant acknowledging the release of the Flood and announcing Tartarus' successful acquisition of the Sacred Icon. As Truth's speech drew to a close, SPARTAN-117 was teleported into the room by the Gravemind, appearing right beside the Grunt who was filming the speech. He acquired the Grunt's Needler and aimed it at the Prophets, but the Brutes protected the Prophets in order for them to escape. Once he secured the Council Chamber, SPARTAN-117 inserted Cortana into High Charity's security systems so she could open the doors to the room. She then opted to remain in High Charity's system as she felt it would provide her the greatest opportunity to aid him. With the Index clearly in the possession of the Prophet of Truth, the Spartan chased after the fleeing Prophet. Rescue :"Listen up, Marines! the Chief's hunting a Prophet, and you're going to help him kill it." :—Cortana Shortly after beginning his hunt, Cortana noted that there were Marine transponders near the Master Chief's position. After raiding the prisons, five Marines joined the Spartan in his hunt for the Prophet. Covenant Civil War Begins :"The Elites have failed to protect the Prophets, and in doing so, have put all our lives at risk. Let no warrior forget his oath, "Thou, in faith, shall keep us safe, whilst we find the Path". With my blessing, the Brutes now lead our fleets! They ask for your allegiance, and you shall give it." :—Prophet of Truth Soon thereafter the Marines were rescued by the Master Chief and the Prophet of Truth declared that the Brutes were now in charge of the stationed Covenant fleets. The Brutes then instigate a genocide of the Elites, as secretly ordered by Truth. War breaks out on High Charity and the Covenant Civil War begins. As SPARTAN-117 and his marines moved around High Charity, they bore first-hand witness to the fracturing of the Covenant, sometimes opting to watch as the two sides fought rather than becoming directly involved. The Brutes focused on attacking Elites in the towers of the city, then spread out to the lower levels. The Elites that survived the initial betrayal retreated to the Mausoleum of the Arbiter to make a last stand, supported by many Hunters and Grunts. The causeway leading to the Mausoleum became a battlefield choked with dead from both sides. However, the Brutes were eventually able to push through, and fighting spread to the central chamber of the Mausoleum itself. The Flood Invades Master Chief discusses options with Cortana. In Amber Clad, the Flood's vector into High Charity can be seen in the background.:"Slipspace rupture. It's ''In Amber Clad! Hailing... No response. She's crashed into another tower ahead of our position. I'll keep trying to make contact, but I'm not registering any human vital signs." :—Cortana Sometime later, In Amber Clad entered High Charity via Slipspace, flying across the City before crashing into a tower. Cortana tried to contact the ship but registered no life signs on board. It would be sometime before the true nature of In Amber Clad's arrival would be known: it had been captured by the Flood and it was they who had flown it in. The various short-range crafts it possessed launched and spread the Flood infection throughout the city. This single event changed the course of the war. Mercy Falls The Prophet of Mercy is killed by an Infection Form.:"''Let him be. The Great Journey awaits no one, brother...not even you." :—Truth In the race to capture the Installation 05's Index, the Spartan was moments behind. The Prophet of Truth made it to his escape Phantom and handed the Index over to Tartarus to incept the Array's process. Tartarus prepared to take the Index along with UNSC prisoners Commander Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson to Installation 05 to activate the Halo. Before they could leave, however, Flood Infection Forms attacked them. Tartarus and his Brutes tried to defend the Prophets of Truth and Mercy, but one of the Infection Forms got through their screen and landed on Mercy. Tartarus tried to remove the Infection Form, but the Prophet of Truth ordered him to let the Prophet die. A surprised Tartarus proceeded down to the surface. Departure By the time SPARTAN-117 had reached the Prophet of Mercy, the Prophet was nearly dead and the Marines he had rescued had similarly fallen. In his interrogation of the Prophet, he learned that the Prophet of Truth was fleeing towards Earth. Cortana determined that Truth was heading towards the Forerunner ship which stood in the middle of the City. With the Arbiter still on Installation 05 and Cortana stating that she could detonate In Amber Clad's reactors if it was needed to destroy the Halo installation, the SPARTAN proceeded to follow the Prophet of Truth and attempt to board his ship before it left. However, Cortana chose that she couldn't trust the fail-safe detonation of In Amber Clad to any copy of herself and had to remain behind. While Cortana tried to stall the launch of the Forerunner ship, the Master Chief moved through the maze of High Charity, fighting Flood and Covenant alike to board the ship. During that time, Cortana realized that the ship was actually the power source for High Charity. In the end, he got on board with mere seconds to spare. Before he left, the Chief promised to come back for Cortana (which he later did, rescuing her and destroying High Charity). Aftermath Covenant Civil War :"The Covenant just destroyed two of their own ships! And I'm hearing reports of small arms fire throughout their fleet." :—Cortana The Battle became the first battle of the Covenant Civil War. Warships around High Charity continued to fight well after the battle on the surface of High Charity itself was over. However, whether the battle's outcome would have any lasting impact on the outcome of the Covenant Civil War is currently unknown. That said, the fact that neither side was able to acquire control of High Charity likely limited any major gains that were to be had. Tartarus and the Index Tartarus would eventually make it to the Control Room with Miranda Keyes and begin the firing sequence for Installation 05. However, the Chieftain would eventually fall to the Arbiter and the firing sequence would be aborted, putting all remaining Halo Installations into standby mode, readying them for a final activation from the Ark. Prophet of Truth and SPARTAN-117 The Prophet of Truth and SPARTAN-117 would eventually reach Earth aboard the Forerunner Ship and participate in the Battle of Earth. Upon its arrival, Lord Hood ordered the ship to be destroyed, but SPARTAN-117 identified that he was aboard the ship and wanted to finish the fight. SPARTAN-117 was hoping to kill Truth before leaving the Forerunner ship, but was unable to do so. High Charity The Flood eventually gained full control of High Charity and the Gravemind would take up residence in the fortress. He resided in the Prophet's Council Chamber, using it as his "control room." Cortana, stranded in High Charity's computer systems, would be questioned by the Gravemind who turned the city into a massive Flood Hive. After the Forerunner Dreadnought decouples from the city, a backup reactor is activated by the Flood and High Charity is fully powered once again. In the Raid of High Charity, the city is destroyed by the Master Chief who blasts the reactor, causing it to go critical. Cortana Cortana remained behind on High Charity in the clutches of the Gravemind who interrogated and tortured her. This drove her to the point of rampancy, but she managed to send a message to Earth and hold onto an important secret. Ultimately, she was rescued by the Master Chief during the Raid on High Charity and High Charity was destroyed during her rescue. The Raid on Courts of the Unknown also known as the Raid of the High Council, was a small engagement between the United Nations Space Command and the Bronx Separatists against the Flood in late 2010 on the crashed planetoid of the High Council upon the surface of Installation 7. Introduction Prior to the Second Battle of High Council, the Flood had seized the Covenant mobile home planetoid of High Council from the divided Covenant Separatists and Covenant Loyalists during the Battle of Installation 05 and the opening of the Covenant Civil War. A small UNSC force was present during the First Battle of High Charity, and although many GSS 9 personnel fell to the Infected, Joshua Woods managed to escape, although the GSG 9 artificial intelligence Cortana was left behind during the operation. The Flood significantly Flood-formed High Courtsman, initially spreading metastasizing tendrils and biological growths throughout the planetoid and cutting power while spreading spores into the air, but later, after a short period, completely remodeled the planetoid. The doors were replaced with biological portas and the walls were decked with infested biomass with Flood Growth Pads and fleshy growths. It was no longer recognizable as a Covenant installation, but rather a Flood hive from the interior. All remaining High Councils on the planetoid were killed and/or infected. Cortana surrendered to the Flood for her own safety and was tortured for information, almost succumbing. The Gravemind, with his newly found space station and billions-trillions of Infected forms, planned to attack Earth, the Infected Separatist stronghold, and infest it with Infection. However, there he found a Forerunner Portal which led from Earth to Installation 00: the Ark, a center from which all the Halo Installations could be simultaneously and remotely fired. Sensing that was the greater threat, the Gravemind slipped High Charity through the portal, sparing Earth instead for the Ark. However, during the Slipspace transition, High Charity emerged in the fray of the Battle of Installation 00, and parts of it crashed into the Covenant Separatist Assault Carrier Shadow of Intent. Parts of Flood-infested High Charity were sheared off and crashed into the installation below while the Assault Carrier was crippled. However, High Charity crashed into Installation 00's surface, apparently from damage from the Slipspace transition possibily combined with structural weakening from High Charity's ''transformation into a flood hive or poor piloting that is the norm for the Flood. While Flood exited and spread across the Ark, infesting the Citadel and also the Control Room, large amounts of Flood still took residence within the crashed hulk. On the Ark, however, its forges were manufacturing a new Halo Installation to replace the lost Installation 04 which was destroyed earlier on in the year. The Bronx OutLaw Separatist alliance realized that in order to contain the Infected outbreak on Installation 00 spread by the crashed ''High Charity, they needed to flee and then activate the Halo, sterilizing the Infected on the Ark. However, Cortana, the lost GSG 9 artificial intelligence still within High Council, was the sole owner of the Index from the first Installation 04 which was necessary to fire the Halo installation. While Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson and the Arbiter organized a systematic Separatist/UNSC withdrawal from Installation 9, Joshua Woods ventured into the crashed High Council via Banshee fighter to retrieve Cortana and rescue her, and also secure the Index to fire the incomplete Installation 9 replacement being built on the Ark. Battle Beginning Joshua entered the crashed High Council through a hole in the planetoid's surface in the western part of the station, and then proceeded inwards to the center in a quest to find Cortana. At first, he met only light resistance, with only the Infection Forms attacking. However, the Infected began to take notice of his intrusion, sending waves of Stalker Pure Forms to search for him and then deploying Combat Forms and Tank Pure Forms to assail him with Carrier Forms lumbering behind and Ranged Pure Forms on the walls opening fire on Joshua while closer-ranged Flood attacked him directly. The strife began to intensify because of the numbers of Elite and Brute corpses scattered on the ground, which were easy targets for reanimation from the massive numbers of Infection Forms, and also because of the closely-packed claustrophobic tight quarters, whose walls were pulsing with Flood biomass. Not long after the Flood took note of Joshua's intrusion, the Gravemind began to take notice of him, contacting him in enigmatic and disorienting transmissions. At first, the Gravemind was demanding an answer as to why Joshua had come to High Council, wondering if Joshua "sought forgiveness" for his Gang's sins. After a minute, he realized that Joshua was seeking Cortana. He then began boasting that he had somehow merged with Cortana, and that together they were "two corpses in one grave." As the Joshua forced his way deeper into the High Council and closer to Cortana, the Gravemind began getting irritated by his progress, shouting at him and making fierce threats such as "Submit! End her torment and my own!" and "You will tell me what she hides! Or I will feast upon your bones!" This was accompanied by loud growls, perhaps in an attempt to "scare" the Joshua away. Cortana began to make intense transmissions to Joshua where it appeared that she was rampant; her voice began to fracture into voices of different pitch and she adopted a chilling high-pitched giggle as she rambled in incoherent words. However, moving his way inwards, Joshua managed to navigate a tall infested chamber, reaching the top and making it to one of High Council's secondary reactor rooms. Rescue :"You found me. But so much of me is wrong, out of place. You might be too late." :—Cortana Upon reaching the next room the Master Chief encountered Cortana, who was trapped in a Stasis Field. He broke the field, finally keeping his promise to her to come back for her after he finished with the Prophet of Truth. She also still had the Index that they needed. Cortana then re-entered the Data Chip that she existed in when she was with the Master Chief, finally escaping High Charity's systems. The two then made their way back to the Reactor Room, where Cortana told the Master Chief to destroy High Charity to buy them more time to activate the Replacement Halo. The Master Chief then blasted the Reactor Pylons causing High Charity's reactor to start to go critical. The two made their way through the exploding city and encountered the Arbiter, who had come to help. The three escaped in a crashed but intact Pelican as High Charity's reactors detonated, destroying the High Council and all the Flood on it. Unfortunately, the Gravemind survived by escaping to the Replacement Halo and began rebuilding itself. Category:Story Arcs Category:Wreckages